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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

We will let the boss of Khazanah say anything he wants at the moment and have his 5 minutes of fame. At least we are spared his new found religiosity. Everyone would be forgiven to think; this is the last word on the issue because the boss of Khazanah says the whatever you called it of the deal between Mas-Air Asia, it is defensible. Among other things he says, this is not a bail out of MAS.

We will take him on these issues.

The first questions we want to ask, why is this deal worked out in the first place? Why AA? It’s operating at how many times its PE? 40 times? Looking at its numbers and the fundamentals, the high PE could mean its stocks are overpriced. That may mean some boys are cooking up the number to set up the market and make killings. Maybe.

If the reason as Dr Mahathir says, MAS can learn from Air Asia on ways to cut costs, you mean those damn exercise carried out by Idris “al Dunlap” Jala wasn’t enough? Why don’t we learn from Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airlines? oh… we want to learn from our home grown talent will be the likely answer.

I know this is a BAD deal because Dr Mahathir said so. Dr Mahathir always say something when he actually mean the reverse.

Yeah baby, what can we learn from AA?

How about the home grown talent’s records then? Well, let’s see. As of the 1st Quarter of 2011, Air Asia (AA) debts amounted to 7.7 billion with cash balances amounting to 1.7billion. This part doesn’t require teaching for MAS. Its executives are renowned masters.

Let’s see further. Hmm, in August 2010. AA announced a deferment of their proposed aircraft purchases but sometime in June 2011 they reversed their decision and proceeded to place an order for an additional 200 new aircrafts at the Paris Air Show. No big deal, we can order as many as we want. Possibly the commissions earned from the purchases dwarf the one earned from the Scorpene submarines which are not submersible.

As of 31 March 2011, as we can see from its 1st Quarter report, AA’s capital commitments stood at RM 19 billion. With the above announcement, an additional RM 54 billion will be added as Capital Commitments. The proposed Capital Commitments of roughly 74 billion will be spread over a 15 year period ending 2026.

In other words, AA has to increase its earnings to an average of 5 billion per annum to meet its future dues. From 2006 to 2010. AA’s revenue grew by 10 fold from 110 million to roughly 1.1billion, an average growth of RM 200 million per annum. How will it reach 5 billion? We will see in the coming months when they rationalize all the routes and what not.

Its cash reserves rose 6 fold from approximately 300 million to 1.7 billion but its debts skyrocketed from 1.05 billion in 2006 to 7.7 billion in 2010, an increase of 700%.

Surely this looks like a debt burden that is spiraling out of control.

But spend baby spend.

This deal is signed, sealed and delivered at an onerous and ominous time. The world economy including Asia’s will be into another maelstrom and air travel will invariably be hit. So what can be done?

One, AA can cancel orders but contract penalties will be onerous. Air Asia wouldnt want to pay penalties would it? The hutang with MAB too, it dragged on what seemed to be forever. That option is no go and why does anyone want to forfeit commissions my man. Also, Tony is probably thinking along what Keynes said- when you are a big borrower, the banks are scared of you. So as a big borrower Tony feels that size does matter after all- it will shield him from foreclosure as banks will be leery of bearing heavy losses! Give it to me bebeh!

But also, a sizeable chunk of those loans are being held by Malaysian banks and in the worst case scenario, the government and the taxpayer will have to pick the tab to avert a financial meltdown cascading down the AA slope. So maybe what a blogger said about enriching AA on taxpayer’s money is true after all.

Let me speak to some financial whiz kids to see the deal from a different perspective. No, I am not going to dignify one commentator with an answer stating that I am a racist for writing this article. If it were that Meranun chap inking this deal, I will wallop him the same. Who cares what race Tony is?you mean i cant criticize dear Tony because he is of a different race and if I do, it amounts to racism? FU!

Take a look at MAS, the whipping boy presently but which is instrumental to further the game being played by bossman Azman Mokhtar and gang. MAS has a paid up of RM 3.384 billion and has a fixed asset value of RM 8.4 billion. Its net asset is at RM 6.962 billion, where cash constitute RM 2.086 billion.

Compare that to the position of Air Asia which we pointed out above, it has borrowings up to RM 7.7 billion and its cash position is RM 1.7 billion. In an earlier article we pointed out that Air Asia has a record of being a bad debtor; it once owed Malaysia Airports over RM 65 million and whenever actions wanted to be taken against them, they run to their chief counsel, then PM Pak Lah. Now of course it has Tun Mahathir on its side and the abrasive and aggressive Rafidah Aziz who can be counted to also be its enforcer.

This whatever you call it- merger, cooperation, or whatisitsname, is a mystery shrouded takeover with the elements of manipulation and failure of disclosures. What is happening to the position of minority shareholders?

Khazanah is giving away 20.5% of its holding in a company with a bigger network, acclaimed higher standard of service, much bigger operating revenue, stronger assets, lesser debts, more cash and better paymaster track record to another company with lesser track record, but one that excels in hyped up marketing and showing it can make a lot net money in shorter time.

Also, I find it strange to see one merchant bank acting as common adviser to this deal. Then I remembered the present capo dei capi of Khazanah is cheese compared to chalk of another earlier Khazanah boss.

At last a serious blogger highlighting the numbers..hope this will get max coverage.Its damn obvious MAS is a more valuable asset.However the seriously mismanagement and bad strategies of Azman's WAU and Jala's BTP i.e short termism N financial engineering have undermined the real operations.Powerpoint skills is much more highly rated than multi-plane licenses in aircraft maintenance.

Dato,maybe the Khazanah boss can tell the public how he got appointed to head it in the first place before he have his five minutes of fame.Can he explained how MAS is a losing concern in the first place if he is so smart.If he was the head of a non GLC he would long be gone.Because of his suckering up to his masters he is still in Khazanah.Soon Khazanah and AA will be needing bailouts too.

When MAS first started(after MSA)it was a profitable company.Any profitable business when it has politicians digging into the cookie jar is bound to go to the dogs.This MAS/AA deal makes no sense.It is like a breeder having a top champion competition winner crossed breed with a pariah street dog.

There are many smart managers out there given the chance will turn it over in good time.Leave it to the political cronies and we can wait till the cows have grand babies and it will still not make a single penny.Whatever they do they will first be thinking of how to fill their pockets.Maybe Mahathir should recomend trouble maker Froggy Abrahim Ali to the board to stop the hanky panky.

Usually I like your blogs, but one always has to be careful of the political underpinnings and your own agenda and the 'who-is-your-buddy' in this respect.Here the latter is obvious. Because you turn from good to bad, comparing apples with oranges. MAS has this and that more and better and higher. But it also has a much larger liability that all 'reforms' have not been able to effectively lessen: the MAS-workforce. If you may want to use the term 'work' in conjunction with this topic. Over-staffed, under-performing, with heaps of privileges and entitlements and benefits. And little actual need to perform. The usual quagmire in this country. This liability alone makes MAS less competitive and less attractive than AA. Like in so many other GLCs. I'd rather have you looking into this matter instead of closing one eye to this problem and blinking the second.

Dato,what is a share swap anyway.Isit an exchange of shares of a company of x value to another company of y value.Or is it a crossed breed of a high class with a low class whore.Or is it a merger of two companies of different classes,or a marriage of convenience.

It sounds so complicating to non economics graduates.Maybe to make it simple,just fired the top management and the purchasing managers of MAS and restructure the company.Then get in a new professional management team.Pay the Managers competitive market salaries,performance bonus and perks.

Then let us see whether they value their jobs or are more interested in kickbacks or digging into the cookie jar.But of course comes with the perks they have to sign an early termination non performance contract too.That way they can be get ridden of if they don't performed up to expectations.Then there will be happy MAS shareholders laughing all the way to the bank.

MAS would not have been in this state if it had not been a free taxi service for the Khazana boys, Members of Parliament, friends and family, all these years.

My friend runs a restaurant funded by his dad. What I like about the whole set-up is that even his business man dad who entertains his friends and associates at the restaurant, has to pay for his meals.

In business, what counts most is profit at the end of the year (or in American speak, quarterly profit).

Right now, AA is in the pink of health while MAS is chronically ill (terminally?), as far as the financial profit (as defined above) goes.

So as a businessman what would u do in picking AA or MAS.

Surely one would pick the cherry boy of the day. & that reflects in MAS’s current known handicap – poor financial health as projected. Thus MAS difficulty in raising finance to buy any aircraft. Don’t u think that those money-lenders, local or internationally, can’t read the financial statement that u have presented for MAS? Why r they still clamoring for AA’s business, despite her monstrous future debt obligation.

Do they know something that u don’t?

So far, Tony has been ingenuous in creating value for the company. Getting subsidiaries list oversea is one master stroke. Doing so also reduce company debts & creating new income. Or else, how does he did thes;

-From 2006 to 2010. AA’s revenue grew by 10 fold from 110 million to roughly 1.1billion, an average growth of RM 200 million per annum.

-Its cash reserves rose 6 fold from approximately 300 million to 1.7 billion

That's impressive to say the least, especially at the current WORLD economic quagmire.

Of course doing so he incurs heavy debts. Hello there, those planes that AA bought r been delivered progressively. If I'm Tony, I'll sell some of the older one to get cash & reduce maintaining cost. This would indirectly pay for some of the debts. It needs clear mind & GOOD management planning to do that. AA seems to have that within her organisation.

BTW, WAU is Azman Mokhtar's scheme. MAS losses had been transferred to PMB through creative accounting. Losses incurred at PMB operations level is still an unknown & been written off gradually. It has to be done fractionally bcoz the amount is almost astronomical. A one time write-off would definitely blows the cover to kingdom comes!

However MAS current valuation is back to the pre WAU turnaround. In a nutshell, all the money govt poured through WAU (indirectly thru PMB) & rights issues has all disappeared.

Who’s fault? & those r past losses, no need to consider as the management is different. Ouch - again, different management? No until MAS is been bleed dry!

Someone mentioned, MAS biggest problem is people. Death woods that get gaji buta - over-staffed, under-performing, with heaps of privileges and entitlements and benefits. And little actual need to perform. & yet nobody can do anything about it. & they r a plenty inside MAS.

See the truth?

BTW, calling Jala “al Dunlap” is a new low in yr writing.

I don’t usually argue with idiots who keep saying Jalanomic for MAS is asset stripping, accounting acrobat.

People who wrote that might have strings of titles, business or academic, behind their name. They r definitely NO hand-on businessman.

Hello there, u r bankrupting & yet u still want to hold on to yr bungalow & Mercz? The decent thing to do is to convert all yr available assets into cash so as to maintain cash-flow – a bloodline of any business survival. Only then u reorganize the business to reinvent & improve.

Jala did that. The biggest problems were, he didn’t stay long enough & he was handicapped every step of the way to trim down the bloated workforce.

I suppose only those who r been indoctrinated with tongkat-ali culture would call Jala’s MAS management revamp an asset stripping. Afterall, when things turn for the worst, there is ALWAYS a sugar-daddy to turn to.

Few years back, MAS union has succesfully negotiate with the management to pay all engineering staff "Technical Allowance" (TA).For the engineers, they'll be divided into 4 groups: L1, L2, L3 and L4.L1 (1-5yrs experience) will be paid RM1000L2 (6-10yrs experience) will be paid RM2000L3 (11-15yrs experience) will be paid RM3000L4 (executive) will be paid RM3800.

Before this no engineer want to be an executive, reason being, small pay.they rather do the 'cangkul OT' on the floor than being and executive.

But nowdays, every engineer want to be an executive. By being an executive, they get the RM3800, keep their type rating license approval allowance (which can go up to RM4000 or maybe more although they dont work on aircraft anymore) plus their basic pay.

The consequences is, there's shortage of engineer on the floor.To overcome this, MAS has to employ expatriate engineer which are highly paid.

On the floor itself i believe there's close to 100 or maybe more expatriate engineers company wide.This engineers earn RM178 hourly.

Another example is in the early 2000’s they wanted to terminate the Johannesburg, Cape Town,Buenos Aires run. Fortunately, that was objected by Dr M as he travels there for his horse riding. Some say he own properties there, but that is another story. Today passengers from China adequately fill the flight. MAS is unable to increase it frequency as it left it too late and South African Airways has objected to it as they too saw the potential. SIA tried to get in the action but to no avail.

Airline business is a network business. In all surveys that have been done, the single most important criteria in choosing an airline are its schedule and connectivity. This is especially true for the front-end customers. You cut one finger and another one will die. KLIA sits on just a great geographical position as Changi and Survanabumi. Airline such SIA, Cathay and Emirates has shown you need to develop your hub and have routes and frequencies to as may destinations as possible. A recent study released by Oxford Economics in “Explaining Dubai’s Aviation Model” clearly shows this. Shrinking your network is not going to cut it.

It is well known that there are many hands in the MAS cookie jar. A glaring example is the Brahim LSG catering but what are hidden are the aircraft purchases. It is very lucrative for the people involved. A standard practice by aircraft manufacturer is to give a 5% commission to the introducer. A further discount is given to large purchases and also depends on how desperate they want to conclude the sale. There is no loss to the manufacturer as they make up for it with cost of spares and support. After all you are tied to the manufacturer for the life of the airplane.

A friend of mine was involved in taking delivery of the aircraft related to me that on one occasion during a delivery ceremony, a manufacturer’s finance person commented “How is it that MAS pays the full sticker price for the airplane when everybody else gets a discount.” That statement is full of meaning. In the mid 90’s, the sticker price for a B747-400, which MAS paid, was $165m. SIA was reported to have paid $120m for the same aircraft. MAS used to borrow the 10% down payment and the rest of the 90%. Interest rates are kept secret as a certain percentage goes elsewhere.

A recent revelation that was told to me is that MAS has a local vendor for its aircraft spares. The million-dollar question is why does MAS need a local vendor or any third party to buy spares for them. It has buildings full of technical personnel who are more that competent to purchase parts from the respective manufacturer. Intermediaries will add cost to what is already an expensive acquisition. On one web posting where comparison was made between MAS and SIA in terms of expenditure, it show that MAS maintenance and aircraft cost is 3 times higher than SIA while the staff cost is lower. That dispels the myth that MAS is overstaffed. It is after all in a customer service business. Computers will help fly and navigate the aircraft but will not serve you food and drinks. You still need those lovely ladies in kebaya.

MAS is made to run a 100m dash from 200m behind the starting line. It has been set up to fail after the removal of Tan Sri Aziz. One of the objectives when it was first set up during the Tun Razak’s administration was to provide employment. Nobody talks about that anymore. It was to help train Malaysian in aviation technical skills, which it has done admirably and Air Asia benefitted from it.

This route that Khazanah is taking will be another long line of saga for MAS. While it is still to pan out where TF is going to take MAS, but my crystal ball say the future is bleak. I pray that it is wrong. When they start buying massive number of aircraft without any clear direction, it will TR all over again. What the birth of the child during the father’s time could possible see the demise during son’s administration. The only hope for MAS will be a change of the BN government.

I say man!you sudah silap.you should fire MAS management and khazanah for incompetency, not tony and airasia.MAS management is like a govenrment department. everything done according to procedure and system. meaning, very difficult to change.Airasia's debt burden shouldn't be a problem if it can generate revenue. And it has shown that it can.I am still amazed that airasia agreed on this deal. MAS will be a burden to them. Better concentrate on their last deal with ANA japan, to set up a LCC in the world's third largest economy and smack right between the largest and second largest economy. Based on this deal alone, airsia's shares should be worth double what it is now for the potential. But alas, i will not recommend anyone to buy airasia shares now because of MAS. It is like a huge blackhole that cannot be erased. It keep sucking in more money and the there seems no end to it.

If I am from the regional airline business and in a predatory mood, like Thai international. SIA or even better, cathay Pacific, now may be a good time to propose a rival bid for MAS, as I can see, tony is a reluctant party.

You are fuming, and shooting with a shotgun. Yes, many things don’t seem right. Let me try to point out a few.

I said in my previous posting that we score 1 for Khazanah, and 0 for Tony Fernandez. Guess what, the last time I checked this morning, MAS price was up 11%, and Air Asia was down 9%. These share prices reflect the consensus of the market – what thousands of investors think of the deal. Thousands people figured out what I did, so I wasn’t particularly smart at all.

Why is the deal no good for Air Asia? I will simply put it down as over-reach on the part of TF. He had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams these past 10 years. Now that might have gone to his head when we see him rushing into F1 racing (glamour, fun, but little monetary returns) and as rumoured into British football by trying to buy QPR, an also-ran club. That move would put him in the circle with rich Russians tycoons and even richer Arab oil princes. You might remember Alexander the Great – a general at 20, who by 30 had conquered everything in his path from Macedonia to Persia. Then he wanted India. In the Indus Valley his generals rebelled, and Alexander retreated to Babylon where he died at the age of 33.

We hope Tony would read a bit of history. It might be instructive. He now has 80 odd planes circling the skies. 200+ planes are on order, so in 15 years he will have a fleet almost 4 times what he has now. By any measure, that would be a very big operation. Where would he find time to mess around with another type (i.e. non low cost) of airline? MAS and Air Asia business models are as different as night and day. This Comprehensive Collaborative Framework (big sounding name) will simply prove to be a quagmire that will bog him down.

No one should think that size automatically confers profits, at least not for airlines. The IATA forecast that for 2011 the world’s airlines combined would make just USD4 billion in profits. This is what the top 3 Malaysian banks make. It is one quarter of what the HSBC bank makes. In 2008/09 the world’s airlines collectively lost money. So for tens of thousands of planes worldwide to make just USD4 billion indicates this as a very bad business. Should AA shareholders rejoice to know there is a big Airbus order signed? That simply means lots of capex to come – RM5 billion p.a. – without any profit guaranteed. For that AA’s CEO must compete fiercely, and not be distracted by this CCF, F1 racing and football clubs.

As for Azman Mokhtar, let’s not be too harsh on him. He did a good paper deal in reshuffling his portfolio. But he did nothing to enhance the long-term competitiveness of MAS. Just changing a CEO and a few directors won’t do, even with Tony inside. If you care to look closely all the new directors have an accounting or finance background, and none with an airline CV, except Tony. So how are they going to talk to him? And who has the time and guts to go into the bowels of MAS to weed out inefficiencies and corruption? Those who preceded Danny were defeated like the British Army, the Soviet Army and now the US Army in Afghanistan. They came, suffered casualties and left with honour dented. The Afghans (read: MAS) remained the same.

If Khazanah really wants MAS to be a profitable airline like SIA and Cathay Pacific, then structure its management like them. Let them operate independently, and let them recruit the best there is. No NEP and other restrictive and destructive policies in the way. If they can’t do that, then continue to find a white knight every few years.

Yes Dato', this brings back memory of past merger and acquisition, back when M&A was THE IN thing! Back when M&A was the RAM BAM cure all magical medicine. This definitely fall into the same category as the infamous "a tiny Malaysian leaf snake (Ular lidi) swallowing a dragon" or more accurately the "Merger of CAHB and BBMB".

Curiously enough, the same "transformed" entity is also acting as the advisor just like the "successful Blob monster" Synergy Drive Bhd aka force marriage between Sime Darby, Guthrie and Golden Hope.

Looking at their track record, it's not hard to predict that we, Malaysian might be seeing another "giant" going into a coma because it is sucked dry by parasites. There goes another couple of Billions of our money down the drain..oppps...into someone else pocket! Funny that the government is saying that Malaysia will be bankrupt if it spent an additional 700million of subsidies but our treasury is resilient enough to shoulder numerous billion RM bailouts and rescues.

You are right on the dot!!! This MAS-AA swop deal was already planned way way ahead with MAS's assets acting as collateral for AA's big purchases so that the commission benefactors will get their cut. And when it comes to commissions, of course the ex-PM will always support such "deals" since he and his cronies stands to profit from such "deals". Compare how this MAS-AA deal was inked in record time with that of the failed VW-Proton deal and one could instantly tell why the VW-Proton deal collapsed because the Germans are not likely to agree to payment of any commissions!!

Only in Malaysia can those responsible for MAS moribund state get away scot-free. Not even a rap in the knuckle.Even Tunku Azmil gets to be kicked upstairs. Given 6 weeks holiday (I guess with pay) before joining Khazanah on Sept. 19.Hey, he's got 11 million MAS share option. This guy should be pensioned off for good.What a charmed life!If these people worked for Donald Trump they will get: "You are fired".The sad thing is MAS employees have not been getting bonuses for so long already.Gone are the days when MAS staffers used to boast they get the highest bonus in town.But don't play, playlah Sak with this merger or swap or strategic alliance or whatever they want to call the deal.Najib sure has something to do with this. Little brother is the deal-maker, the financier.Our respected old man, Tun M, too gave his blessings.Why didn't they appoint him adviser? like to see the synergy between him and Fernandes.

P.S. Please tell me the meaning of al-Dunlap for Idris Jala. I thought only one person has al- as prefix to his name. LOL.

MAS was flying high with profits during the days when Tan Sri Aziz was the MD with Tan Sri Mohar as Chairman.Every jobseeker's first choice was MAS.Mahathir with Daim changed the landscape in the name of privatization to Tajudin Ramli.It was the beginning of the end of its glory.The eclipse by AA would engulf MAS into oblivion.Just the same road taken by PERNAS, Bank Bumi etc..

@Anon [who talks about the MAS maintenance department]. You are 100% spot on. I happen to know a number of gory inside details from there and it seems we agree in principle on what is going on.

You didn't mention one thing, though: Those local, formally qualified people can not take over from the expatriates. Because MAS would lose its safety record due to planes falling from the sky as if there was no tomorrow. It's all the mindset: once a local reaches a certain level, an air-conditioned office with secretary is minimum standard, but never again touch a tool, or God beware, greasy hardware.

I am an expat myself, though with another company and here it is exactly the same. The locals enjoy watching the expat engineer crawling and sweating and working in the dust at 45°. As long as they don't have to get their hands dirty.

As long as people cannot be taught to have pride in their work, everything else is only cosmetics.

@umar:Don't kid yourself. It has less to do with Tan Sri Aziz or anyone else. That was a time when globally air transportation simply had high margins. That was the time when a JAL pilot would have a chauffeur to pick him up at home and send him back.

In those times, it was relatively easy to be 'The Bang Thing'. In those times, the so-called CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) could be fulfilled without much problem, even with a large number of passengers 'buta' aboard.With falling margins and increasing competition the situation would look much more bleak even for those old-school managers.

Dato Sak,the papers state so many things, too convoluted and above our layman's understanding. You on the other hand, put in language I could easily understand and see the trees from the forest. Things are looking very bad for AA, indeed another dire saga in the making, and how true you said " .... about enriching AA on taxpayer’s money is true after all."So when AA defaults, my money is lost!! Just add up the maths, AA's debts are getting into KINGKONG territory, whereas MAS' are more manageable, and yet 20% of MAS is traded for 10% of AA. Unbelievable!! And Tony goes on a shopping spree with nary a worry in his head because he seems to believe the more he owes he becomes more shielded from the banks. Is he/AA going the way of ENRON? Well, I watched the news last night, and the 'merry' gentlemen at the table comprising Azman and his band of 'merry' men, definitely did not look happy at all, maybe put on forced gaiety for the sake of the pressmen.This is daylight robbery and let's see how the stock market digest this!

Dato,for a startup company during its infancy it usually start small or slowly first,because the bosses are more careful.When its staff is being trained and are more used tothe working conditions or we used to say more experienced then they slowly increased production till they reach capacity.In good times they even expand their facilities to maximised their profits.

Just the same as in AA.As a new airlines and very much inferior to MAS it started small too.Then it slowly build up its business.As a budget airline it was able to attract the string strapped travellers.So with more business their profits increased.At least that is what is on the balance sheet.Unless it is another BM ponzi scheme.

So from 2006-2010 its revenue increased 10 folds.That is why it is trading at PE 40,because on paper the potential earnings are there.Like in politics we used to say it is all about the public's perception.So the market has already priced in future earnings.

Its cash reserves grew by 1.4 billion but its debt grew by 6.65 billion.Does it take a genius to figure it out whether 40 times PE is a very good time to sell and go short.

For a company or airline in this case to start small and grow bigger is easy.But wher you grow up to a stage it is not that easy to grow much bigger anymore.Budget carrier or no budget carrier it doesn't matter.The airlines industry is a very competitive world.In the end it all depends on the world economy.

But once you have expanded and brought in the extra planes you have to utilised them.You have to find new routes.One cannot just walk into Singapore,Hong Kong,China and the rest of the world and say my airline is coming in tomorrow.Which country is going to sell you their profitable routes.AA can have all the routes to Zimbabwe for all they care.

Just look at MAS.Mas has been talking bolas and batangs in coming to NY.And all they have managed to coming close to is landing in Newark,NJ.And that is I think 3 flights or so per week.New York is an expensive flight route.Look at SIA.They have fully packed flights every day,365 days a year.

As air traffic increases other airlines add more flights too.And there are countless budget airlines,not only AA.So if AA is banking on increasing their traffic volume to help them utilised their extra fleet of planes,chances of them becoming white elephants are a better bet.

The best bet will still be on MAS.But a total restructuring and overhauled of management has to be put in place first.

This deal does not change anything "directly"at operations level.Its a swop by the shareholders of a portion of their equity.But indirectly the key changes would be 1.TF n KM will be in a position to exert their influence on MAS by virtue of their Board seats.They will also be privy to MAS plans n strategies as well as the operations. But unfortunately Khazanah will not have the same benefits as there are no Khazanah rep in the BOD or mgmt comm. 2.Firefly ops will be curtailed thus giving AA monopoly on domestic LCC.

Going fwd its really TF's decision which way he wants to play.Essentially being an astute businessman he will do his strategising to give max positives to himself.Remember that whats good for MAS may not be the best for him.And vice versa.

So its precarious to say the list.Would Coke gv Board seats to the Pepsi guys?Frankly I believe this deal will end in tears.Question is--whose tears?

Like it or not this deal as good as a done deal. We can yell until cow come home. Nothing is expected to happen. Govt have outsourced it to Khazanah to take the rap unless it sees political mileage it can gain from it.

I would prefer you write something about global market which seems to be hit by tsunami and what impact it may have to Malaysia economy. What I can see Malaysia govt is very quiet, clueless and sometime in denial mode. We cannot hold our breath and expect govt highly paid consultants and the touted Transformation Programs will ride Malaysia out from this mayhem.

now it is just like the americunt's banks tales. "IT IS JUST TO BIG TO FAIL". end of the day tax payer monies will come for the rescue. same old story of blaming the staff but for the predicaments but never once bringing to light of the over inflated contracts awarded without transparency.

these people care nothing, they are not politicians but one thing is sure they are the suckers and proxies of the politician in power. their well planned business model guaranteed huge return whether the company's concern making profit or not. either ways easy money is for them to grab. they are the white shoe boys, the mobsters with find clothing and can tango with the tune and are well connected to the top. they have the ability to camouflage lies as truth.

anyway the main street folks cant do nothing about it unless we all have the courage to change the government of today.

they are all mafias and like the italian mobs love to say "where is the doe".

Its a done deal and nothing we can do about it.Money will be poured into the misguided schemes and the eventually tally will be OSAed.

Till today we have no public info on WAU/PMB final cost,Jala Oil Hedge losses..these ppl hv no honor to stand up and be counted.In a rational admin..the cost will be made transparent before announcement of the next turnaround scheme.In a way,the govt have admitted that all the turnarounds have failed BUT at what cost?

This Fernandez turnaround will need huge infusions of cash too.There will be rights issues.Myb at both Air Asia & MAS?We are never privy to the overall scheme till it collapses and the next fix-it is announced.

Its a very sorry state ofthings esp in an environment where so many Malaysian families are living on shoestrings.The govt and Rakyat is getting more and more disconnected.Walkabouts does not cure bad practises.TV ads do not change the mishandling of public funds.

We are helpless till the next election.We will then tell the govt what we think of this damn ridiculous MAS-AirAsia deal.

Dato,I am no economist but very impressed with AirAsia where everyone can fly.There is always this niche market for this sector.Do you remember FREDDIE LAKER the cheap transatlantic flights from uk to the states the like of Air Asia way back 70's,it collapsed ! anybody know why ?

This whole exercise sounds very fishy, even to a layman like me. 1st, Air Asia announced the migration of its HQ to Jakarta. Then days later it announced the share swaps. Surely these 2 major moves cannot be exclusive to each other as they take a long time for board meetings and discussions.

I am more inclined to think that there is some ulterior motive to channel / siphone large amount of funds by some slick sucker. I hope the rakyat's money will be intact.